HU has as many turnovers as points in 42-9 loss at Western Illinois

MACOMB, Ill. — Donovan Rose couldn't explain the scene that was unfolding before his eyes during Hampton University's 42-9 loss to Western Illinois. As the Pirates' coach watched the plethora of second-half mistakes, it hardly seemed real to him.

But the nine turnovers were very real, and the Pirates never found a way to recover.

By the time it was over, the Pirates had cycled through three quarterbacks, watched a close game turn into a rout and coughed up the football on nine occasions, seven in the second half. The Leathernecks took three back for touchdowns and turned another three into scoring drives, as Hampton's offense never stopped hurting itself in a season-opening loss Thursday night at Hanson Field.

"I thought the defense fought hard, but you can't overcome nine turnovers," Rose said. "I don't think anybody in America can overcome that. We've just got to look at that and learn from it. Luckily, this is a non-conference game, but we've got to play better."

The Pirates (0-1) performed well in two of the three phases of the game, turning in praiseworthy performances on defense and special teams. Despite the lopsided score, Western Illinois (1-0) only outgained Hampton by 15 yards and never scored on a drive that did not start with a Hampton mistake. The closest the Leathernecks came were a pair of field-goal attempts in the first half, but junior Khambrel McGee came through for Hampton by blocking both tries.

But the Pirates never managed to reward their defense or special teams by holding onto the football. Rose tried three quarterbacks, but sophomores J.J. Williamson and Brian Swain and freshman Bryan Bailey finished with a pair of interceptions.

"I'll say it was a lack of focus," said Antwon Chisholm, who had the Pirates' only touchdown on a 21-yard strike from Williamson in the first half. "They gave us everything that we wanted and were looking for, but we needed more focus. I don't know what happened. We shut off our focus and were missing our keys.

"When we know what we're doing, we do it well."

The closest Hampton came to figuring out the offense came on its first drive of the second half, when Williamson took advantage of a seam in the Leathernecks' defense that had been open all night. He used that to hit four of his first five passes of the second half to drive the Pirates to the Leathernecks' 7, seemingly setting up HU to cut into Western Illinois' 15-6 lead.

Instead, Williamson went to the well once too often, finding Western Illinois defensive back Dallas Nichols on the Leathernecks' 3-yard line. Seconds later, Nichols had taken the pass 97 yards, the Leathernecks had their second defensive touchdown of the night, and the Pirates were lost in a quagmire they would never escape.

"You've got to finish," Williamson said. "I saw everything there, and it's just executing. You've got to put it all together. Coming out that half, we had momentum and were driving down the field, and that's a killer. It was just that one mental mistake, and I put it all on me."